West Indies row goes on

Dinanath Ramnarine, the head of the West Indies Players Association (WIPA), maintained yesterday that money was not an issue in senior players rejecting contracts from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and opting out of the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

However, Roger Brathwaite, the WICB chief executive, insisted that it was.

The two spoke on the ongoing impasse between the two bodies on BBC's Test Match Special broadcast during the NatWest Series final between England and Australia at Lord's. Ramnarine noted that the WIPA presented "a verbal figure" of US$200,000 as the sponsorship fee that covers players' commitments such as appearing at the official sponsor's functions, wearing the appropriate gear and signing bats and team sheets.

"We moved to US$150,000 and moved again to US$125,000 but we never agreed that was what our final figure would be," he said. "We were in negotiating mood and that is how you negotiate.

"I want to make it absolutely clear that money for going on this tour was not the issue," Ramnarine told interviewer Jonathan Agnew. "We were prepared to negotiate but we got a response in respect of the money value (for the sponsorship fee) from the board at 7.40 pm Thursday after we had already been informed at 2 p.m. that a new team would be picked, "he continued. "I want to make it absolutely clear that money for going on this tour was not the issue because there are far more important issues."

He charged that while the WIPA wanted all issues, including the WICB's sponsorship agreement to go to arbitration before Justice Adrian Saunders, the WICB was seeking "very narrow terms of reference". Brathwaite said he was "surprised" to hear Ramnarine say that money was not "at the heart of the issue."

"Certainly if money was not an issue, the original team would have been in Sri Lanka," he said. He repeated the WICB's earlier position that, with a deficit of US$6 million budgeted for the year leading to an overall end of year deficit of US$17 to $18 million, it was "just not able to afford" what WIPA was seeking. Its offer was US$50,000. Asked whether, even at this late stage, the matter could be resolved so that the original, full strength team would make the tour, Brathwaite replied: "I never rule out anything. I'm the eternal optimist and I will keep on trying, based on the guidelines given by my board."

But, he acknowledged, the board had made a decision that the team on its way to Sri Lanka would be the one to play the two Tests and in the triangular one-day series also involving India.